Dungeons and Dragons has enjoyed a significant revival in recent years, due in part to popular streaming shows like Stranger Things and Critical Role. Once seen as the pinnacle of geek culture, the role-playing game (RPG) is now a hit with a new generation of players. But while many people may view it as just […]
Personalized mRNA Vaccine Shows Promise Against Aggressive Pancreatic Cancer
A personalized mRNA vaccine against an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer has shown early promise in a phase 1 clinical trial, where it was found to induce a significant immune response and potentially delay relapse. When used in combination with chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the individualized vaccine – called adjuvant autogene cevumeran – triggered a substantial […]
Tricking Chimps With Fake Snakes May Have Just Revealed A Primitive Language
Snakeskin on a fishing line was the instrument used to extract elements of what could be a rudimentary language among wild chimpanzees in Uganda. The tricksy experimental design enabled them to see what alarm call combinations chimps made when a “snake” was on the loose, and if the specific order of calls elicited a different […]
Capri’s Sea Cave Glows Brilliantly Blue Thanks To Its Weird Geology
With its vibrantly bright water, the Blue Grotto of Capri may look like it’s been backlit with artificial lighting or perhaps even Photoshopped beyond reality. However, rest assured, the radiant waters of this picture-perfect sea cave are totally natural. Also known as the Grotta Azzurra, it can be found on the island of Capri on […]
There’s A Very Good Reason Why Airplane Food Tastes Terrible
It’s no secret that airplane food can be a god-awful box of tasteless slop, but that’s necessarily the fault of the airline’s chef. In actuality, your tastebuds perceive food and drink much differently when they’re cruising at 36,000 feet compared to sea level. Here’s why. Inside a sealed airplane cabin, the re-circulated air becomes very […]
Suspected Runaway Supermassive Black Hole May Not Be What It Seems
The discovery of a long, thin stream of stars in old Hubble images created a buzz of excitement. The astronomers who found the unusual structure explain it as a supermassive black hole (SMBH) forced out of its galaxy through an encounter with two even larger black holes, and forming stars out of intergalactic gas in […]
Americans Appear To Believe They Could Take An Elephant In Unarmed Combat
Humans (particularly men) have a bit of a tendency to believe they are tougher than they actually are, at least if quick glances at any YouGov poll are to be believed. Take, for example, the 12 percent of men who think they could win a point in a match against Serena Williams, as if when […]
Decades-Old, Infinitely Large Math Problem Gets Surprisingly Neat Solution
Modern math problems don’t tend to have the kind of answers that trip off the tongue. Perhaps it’s a brand-new proof that takes a few pages’ worth of words and diagrams to explain properly, or an improvement on a previous result that’s so specific as to be virtually invisible. Maybe it’s entirely dependent on a […]
New Study Shows Why You Should Never Rely On TikTok For Medical Advice
TikTok may be fantastic for some things – discovering how much your dentist knows about your sex life; freaking out Montanans; whale penises, etc – but one thing we’re pretty sure you shouldn’t be doing is relying on it for medical advice. At best, you’re going to get accurate information that you nevertheless wish you […]
AI And Sandvik Have Combined History’s Greatest Artists To Create The Impossible Statue
In a world-first project, a company is using artificial intelligence (AI) to combine history’s greatest sculptors in a wonderous collaboration project to make one incredible monument – the Impossible Statue. AI is everywhere. On your phone alone there is predictive text, digital voice assistants, and facial recognition software. In the past few years, this technology […]
Medieval And Early Modern Phrases We Still Use Today, And Where They Came From
Languages are fun, and the English language is particularly entertaining. It is not only jam-packed with words and phrases that originate from other languages, but also contains words and idioms, or sayings, that are just downright bizarre. That sentence actually contains two examples: “Jam-packed”, a phrase introduced into common use during the early 20th century, […]
Who Would Win In A Fight, Megalodon Or T. Rex?
If you somehow haven’t seen the new trailer for what is surely going to be a hit summer blockbuster, The Meg 2 appears to feature a T. rex and megalodon in an extremely unlikely showdown given they lived tens of millions of years apart. But since this also looks like the greatest creature feature since […]
Supercomputers Have Revealed The Giant “Pillars Of Heat” Funneling Diamonds Upwards From Deep Within Earth
Most diamonds are formed deep inside Earth and brought close to the surface in small yet powerful volcanic eruptions of a kind of rock called “kimberlite”. Our supercomputer modelling, published in Nature Geoscience, shows these eruptions are fuelled by giant “pillars of heat” rooted 2,900 kilometres below ground, just above our planet’s core. Advertisement Understanding […]
The Stone Bodies Of Pompeii Aren’t What You Think
It was late October, in 79 CE, when the Apocalypse came to Pompeii. Mount Vesuvius, a major active volcano located just five miles from the flourishing resort town, finally made good on the threats it had been sending out for a decade and a half and erupted, flooding the nearby region with a deadly cloud of […]
A Frat Party Went So Hard The Air Tested Positive For Alcohol
A recent Reddit post has drawn our attention to a party that apparently went so hard that the air tested positive for booze on a breathalyzer. The frat party, which took place in Baltimore in 2017, had around 120 underage guests in attendance. According to CBS News, police arrived following a noise complaint. For reasons […]
Meteorite That Struck A New Jersey House May Be From Halley’s Comet
A family in Hopewell, New Jersey, had a rare surprise when a meteorite crashed through their roof. According to the police report, the stone was around 10 centimeters (4 inches) by 15 centimeters (6 inches) and clearly natural, rather than a piece of space junk. The event may be the most exciting thing to happen […]
What Color Is The Sun? A Simple Question With Complex Answers
If you were to picture the Sun, what color would you give it? Unless you went with an outlandish color like pink (which can’t come from one wavelength of light), the answer could be right, as the color of the Sun changes with location. It might be red-orange at sunset on Earth, but those sunsets […]
3D View Of Famous M87 Galaxy Reveals It Resembles A Very Big Potato
It has been a bit month for M87 and its supermassive black hole (M87*). Recent observations have revealed even more about this gargantuan cosmic object and its host galaxy, and astronomers have been able to better understand the shape of this galaxy. It turns out it is shaped like a potato. When looking through a […]
DNA Sheds Light On Mystery About Where Native Americans Came From
A new study of mitochondrial DNA has found evidence for at least two migrations between the Americas, China, and Japan, during the last ice age and following melt period. The team traced a rare Native American founder lineage across the continents and time, looking at mitochondrial DNA passed down through females. Using 100,000 modern-day and […]
Whales Hunted In Iceland Experience Slow, Agonizing Deaths, Report Finds
Whale hunting across the world has always been a controversial topic. Despite bans on commercial whaling, a small number of countries including Japan, Norway, and Iceland still persist in the killing of whales for meat. Now, a new report released by the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST) has revealed just how much suffering these […]
